


Queen

by chiharutanaka



Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: Angst, F/M, Genderbent Richard, M/M, One-sided love?, in-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 07:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14785902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiharutanaka/pseuds/chiharutanaka
Summary: One Knight's heart is filled with only devotion and love for his Queen. Asbel/female!Richard ONESHOT





	Queen

She was beautiful, and she was our Queen.

From the first moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was a weird child. Weird, but strangely pretty for a boy – because that's who I thought she was at first. She had short blond hair and big brown eyes that narrowed into a doubtful glare at my young, adventurous self that boldly climbed through her window; more like a mischief-maker than a Prince Charming to the rescue. She was dressed in a boy's clothes – and only later I realised she did so because she was training in swordsmanship as I was, sort of.

She was wary of me, and somehow I felt she was empty – because wrinkles that should not be on her fair features were already there at a tender age of twelve. Instantly, almost naively, I felt a compelling need to pull her out into the sunshine she deserved to be in. She was no Rapunzel, locked up in a tower in the darkness – and I was determined to show her the world through the eyes of a prepubescent child.

Her hands were small, warm, with long dainty fingers, even if she was half an inch taller than I was, and they felt impossibly smooth in the grip of my right hand; unlike the gloved, firm hands of a fist-fighter like Sophie. Together we ran across the sunny, flowering fields of Lhant and made a promise of friendship at a tree on the top of a cliff.

And that was the beginning of our separation.

Because of an event that brought me endless regret, I was separated from them – from all of them, including Hubert, Cheria and my parents. For seven years we remained out of contact; for seven years I longed for their company, their forgiveness. For seven years I was lost, blinded by the desire to become stronger so I could protect – in vengeance of those I could not.

But when we met again, after seven years, she was injured and trying to escape the clutches of death and betrayal.

She had grown as much as I had, and she was more radiant than I thought possible, even while dressed in a gentleman's clothes. Her blond hair had grown longer, its ends touching her shoulders; and she had become a very attractive woman, almost like a metamorphosis. Yet, even after her father's death, I wanted no other ruler – I wanted her to be Queen, and I wanted to be her sword.

I had wanted to become her sword for the longest time. She was a proud, elegant regal figure and she was capable of wielding a sword just as well as any Knight could – but I did not merely want to become her shield like the rest of the Kingdom's army. When I first found her as a child she was a shy flower with petals embracing herself; and I wanted to watch her blossom into the rose she was, beautiful but protected by her own thorns. I wanted to lead her to victory; to slay her enemies with my blade and stand beside her as the Kingdom flourishes under her rule.

No matter what her sins, I would forgive her because I was her friend before I was her guardian.

She stood before me, in a brilliant emerald gown that fits her so perfectly that I was afraid to even look at her, a royal velvet red cape covering her shoulders and back. Her jewelled crown, that once belonged to her father and was modified for her use – the first female reigning monarch of Windor – sat fittingly atop her silky blond hair, the same one I imagined running my fingers through countless times that delighted and mortified me. With a smile that suited her angelic face, she watched with her warm brown eyes as I knelt in front of her; in respect and awe for this amazing, inspiring woman that I had devoted my life and soul to.

I rose to stand, facing her and she extended her hand – her gloveless hand – to me. Even if it was just the two of us, all alone in the throne room, it was at this moment that she could see my weakness for her, and I had never felt more vulnerable.

I was sure she felt my hand trembling as it slid below her fingers, and I was positive she saw the split-second hesitation I had before I pressed my lips, just briefly, on the back of her hand. I let her hand slide away from my grasp. I looked up into her eyes and she smiled at me with more meaning than could ever be explained in mere words. The same hand rose to touch the side of my face, and my cheeks felt like they were burning as she brushed her thumb across my skin.

"Asbel..." she began, with a soft voice just loud enough for both of us to hear. "Thank you...for everything."

The moment her hand left my face, my skin was still tingling and cold air bit against where she had touched, which felt foreign when the room was warm. Her gratitude was all I was supposed to want as a Knight, as her sword; but as a person, I knew my desire would forever be unfulfilled. She was so flawless that wanting her felt like treachery.

I nodded with a smile, one that was forced by my unwilling body. She had my heart captured in her hands, the same hands I want to hold, and the same hands that held the sword that made me a Knight. I knew that the moment she took my heart away from me I would never peacefully sleep again, drowned in my dreams of her and her alone.

"You're welcome," I replied, and when she smiled again with those perfect lips of hers - so perfect I wanted to kiss her right there and then - but I forced my trembling hands behind my back.

She was beautiful, more so than any other woman I have ever met. I desired her more than she could ever know, and she was my Queen.

**Author's Note:**

> It's an old fic back from 2010, originally posted on my ff.net account! I hope you enjoyed it!


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